


Good Deeds

by halfpastmonsoon



Category: Battle Royale - All Media Types, Battle Royale - Takami Koushun
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bullying, Gen, Paranoia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 15:26:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16579154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfpastmonsoon/pseuds/halfpastmonsoon
Summary: Yuichiro attempts to make Yoshio feel less lonely





	Good Deeds

**Author's Note:**

> Old short fic from my tumblr, enjoy!!

Yoshio Akamatsu was sitting at his desk and sweating profusely, having to remind himself to keep breathing. He wanted to go home, badly, but he knew missing class was a bad idea. If he missed one day, he would have no motivation to go to school the day after that, and the day after that…and eventually he’d stop leaving his house at all and eventually die. (That would be an opportunity to play all the video games he wants to, which doesn’t sound half bad, but he was aware his parents could punish him for not going to school by confiscating every console he owns. This was simply a lose-lose situation however he looked at it).

In any case, he was currently sitting and waiting for class to start. He was too tense to move but he kept looking around the classroom for a possible threat. To most people, that might seem ridiculous - what threats could he possibly expect from a classroom? The answer, however, was simple, and it went by the name of Ryuhei Sasagawa. Yoshio clenched his fists when the kanji of the name appeared in front of his mind’s eyes. For the past weeks, Ryuhei has been making his life a living hell. Picking on him, sometimes punching him. Sometimes kicking him. What was the worst, however, was that none of their classmates did anything about it. They looked away. They left the classroom. They pretended to not hear.

Yoshio had no friends, but in his mind, he had 41 enemies (perhaps more. Strangers could hurt him, too, after all. Maybe it’s better to not leave the house anyway? Then again, nobody would give him notes…nobody would notice he’s gone…he’d drop behind and fail, definitely. Not like that matters, he’s going to die anyway), 40 silent enemies, and 1 very loud and very active one.

Yoshio looked at the clock. Three minutes. Perhaps he’s safe for now. In three minutes he’ll be able to breathe in relief…until next break. But he can’t relax yet. He can never relax, actually…Can’t this day be over already?

-

Yoshio wasn’t aware that someone was watching him with concern rather than hostility or apathy. That someone has been looking at him for quite a while but was too anxious to say anything to him.

“Hey, Katsu?” the person said to his best friend, sitting behind him.

“Hm?” Tadakatsu Hatagami, who’d been spacing out for the past ten minutes, heard the voice and lazily opened one eye to look up at the source of the voice, his childhood friend, Yuichiro Takiguchi.

“I’m worried about Yoshio. Do you think it’s ok to talk to him?” Yuichiro started nervously tugging on his sleeve, still looking ahead. Tadakatsu made another ‘hmmm’ noise as he hesitantly sat up and stretched, painfully slowly.

“I guess it’s fine? Just don’t scare him.” Not like anyone could be scared of Yuichiro, realistically speaking, given his appearance and personality. He didn’t really get why he cared enough to get involved, but who was he to stop him from acting on his good heart’s insticts?

Yuichiro kept playing with his sleeve and sat there silently for a while. He was trying to find the right words to say to Yoshio. Tadakatsu watched him curiously. He wanted to help, not really so much for Yoshio’s sake, but for Yuichiro’s, but he wasn't really good at this stuff.

Without warning, Yuichiro stood up and made his way towards Yoshio’s desk. He gulped and clenched his fists, but didn’t stop.

“Excuse me-” he managed not to stutter as he said that, which he was a bit proud of, always having had problems with that. He waited patiently as Yoshio took his eyes off the clock and looked at him. (Yoshio’s mind, which he didn’t know about, set off a million alarms and flashed 'THREAT’ in front of his eyes; however, instead of screaming or running away or doing anything, Yoshio just froze).

Yuichiro cleared his throat. “I’m sorry for talking to you so suddenly, but, uh…you have a 3DS, don’t you…?” His nails dug so deeply into his hands he felt pain, but he couldn’t stop…

Yoshio blinked a few times. His mind was attempting to transition from THREAT mode, to threat mode, to perhaps-not-threat? mode, and it was taking some time. He breathed deeply and looked down, before finally answering “…yes”.

Yuichiro’s face lit up as he shyly asked “would you…want to exchange Friend Codes?”.

Yoshio considered for a moment. That was one from his favourite systems. He’s been playing a lot of games on it in the past weeks. It wouldn’t hurt to have someone to share that with, would it? What’s the worst that could happen? Hmmm…

“S-sure” he answered before he even realised he was speaking out loud.

Yuichiro jumped up and down and wrote his code on Yoshio’s notebook. Exactly when they were done exchanging, the class was about to start, so Yuichiro rushed back to his desk, still smiling widely. Tadakatsu couldn’t stop looking at his happy face, satisfied with having done something good. He didn’t even notice when he started smiling himself. It was heartwarming to see something like this happen after so many months of everyone ignoring the Yoshio situation.

It was also satisfying to see Yoshio smile at Yuichiro before leaving the room when the classes were over, for once not hunched over, but with his head held high.


End file.
